smoking

Hi, I wonder if you can help me. I have been smoking for about 20 years so I guess you can say i'm definitely an addict. I have tried to give up a few times with no joy. Are there any new things that I might not have heard of that could be worth trying?

Hi, smoking is not an addiction - it is a psychological habit. That's my opinion from studying it and working with stopping people smoking - although it is hotly debated! An addiction works on the pleasure/reward centres of the brain - that doesn't usually occur with smoking.

20 years of smoking? I've had clients for twice that, on 40-60 a day stop smoking. Sometimes without a single session. It can be that easy!

Nicotine is not actually that addictive. You will not be able to physically detect any cravings for nicotine within 7 days of stopping smoking completely. You can sleep overnight without waking for a cigarette, so that can tell you it isn't exactly physically addictive. In fact, once you understand that the physical cravings for nicotine are almost non-existent you'll probably not get any cravings at all.

If you do get cravings just take 5 deep, slow breaths. Bye-bye cravings. The oxygen and relaxation will give you far more benefit.

When people call me to book in for a stop smoking session I just tell them to stop - and stop now. I tell them nicotine isn't addictive. I tell them it is all psychological - you have associated smoking with certain behaviours, such as 'have a drink, have a cigarette'. Do you really need to have a cigarette with a drink, or is it just a habit? Once you realise that, you can just enjoy the drink on its own now. When you smoke, how much of it is just habit? Just make the choice to stop now - you don't need the habit.

Some people smoke for a buzz, or to be calm, or because they're bored, or for something to do with their hands...so find alternative behaviours, ones that satisfy you just as much physically but even more so emotionally - just find a better behaviour! I tell my prospective clients to find a better behaviour.

I also tell my prospective clients to imagine themselves being a natural non-smoker and everything going fine in every circumstance, and imagine that they find that being a non-smoker is easy...and that they wish they'd done it before.

I send them away to do that, and only to book in if they still need me. Most quit and report that they don't need the session. It is that easy - if you think it is hard, it is just your imagination. Mind you, if you think it is easy, that's just your imagination too. I wonder, how do you want to use your imagination?